Book Reviews and Random Thoughts

Circle of Three (Tales of the Nine Charms #1)

Walker is a joker, until the day he finds a pretty little talisman and his life turns deadly serious. Taken to another world, he must learn to fight to survive. Niko is a boy who yearns to be a warrior, until the day that he ends up on that path despite himself. Aurora is a Gypsy unwillingly drawn into a web of conspiracies that may cost her life. But the three of them are tied to an ancient prophecy about a coming war between the light and the dark. They must survive . . .

If anything, the book feels a little overly ambitious. Murders, plots, and conspiracies abound. Each of the three children has his own circle of family, friends, and enemies, which doesn’t leave time for anyone but the main characters to get any development. But, for the age range, the target readers probably won’t care. There’s plenty of action, even if most of it is simply running away from someone who wants to catch them.

I would’ve preferred something more to have happened other than just running away, but the real problem with the book is that it opens a series that never materialized. Aside from a direct sequel, which looks to only introduce one more talisman’s user, nothing more was published, and it’s been so long the odds the series will revive are small. Although there is always the self-publishing option, I suppose.

Overall this is an action-packed book that doesn’t go enough of anywhere to stand alone, and doesn’t have the series behind it that would allow it to be the introduction to something larger. I rate this book Neutral.